It all looked to be going well for Kings Langley for the opening 35 minutes on Saturday. They led by one goal and were seemingly in control against Frome Town. But what followed was a collapse as Paul Hobbs’ men crashed to their worst defeat for almost six years as the visitors headed back to Somerset with a 7-2 victory.

Despite the margin the defeat, it did not affect Kings’ league position as they remain fourth from bottom in the Southern League Premier Division relegation fight, two points behind Dorchester Town.

The hosts had begun well with Mitchell Weiss putting a shot just over and on 12 minutes the striker latched on to a high, looping through ball from Jorell Johnson to make no mistake in beating Kyle Phillips.

Stevie Ward had a volley well saved as Kings kept up the pressure, but a rare away foray down the right flank resulted in a cross and close-range shot from Jake Jackson that Martin Bennett was only able to parry and Ollie Knight tapped the ball home.

It was against the run of play, but the Robins showed it was no fluke by repeating the move for Jono Davies to net minutes later and on the stroke of half time Chas Hemmings headed a third past a bemused Langley.

There was still time before the break for Emmanuel Folarin to be dismissed for a ‘last man’ foul and Kings had effectively self-destructed in nine painful minutes.

The 10 men showed character with a 10-minute assault at the start of the second half that culminated with Weiss driving a low shot through a crowded box to pull one back. But that was as good as it got as Kings ran out of steam and ideas, allowing Town to add goals in the last 20 minutes through Joe Raynes, Darren Jefferies and Marcus Mapstone.

There was irony in the final minute when history from the previous match repeated itself as the match official added insult to injury by awarding a penalty for handball in a hard driven free-kick incident. Jake Jackson duly converted and the rout was completed.

By this time though, any such irony was completely lost on the Langley faithful, who probably felt more inclined to weep than laugh after being subjected to such a performance.

Kings Langley: Bennett; Folarin, Connolly, Tring (Jung 46); Ocran, Johnson, Godfrey, Turner (Price 68), Adebiyi; Weiss, Ward (Waldren 79). Subs not used: Hodgins, Kenny.